My Soldier's Heart
by unscriptedwriter
Summary: Two people collide at the most unexpected places and time. Casey, a U.S Army soldier; Dawson, a plain old paramedic, hoping to be a Doctor one day. These two will eventually deal with the situations and outcomes of reality, but will they be able to get through it together? And Casey, when he returns to Afghanistan, will he lose Dawson? Or will he lose himself, fighting in war?
1. Chapter 1

**Chicago Fire**

**My Soldier's Heart**

**Chapter 1**

**March 2, 2014**

**Disclaimer: All rights have been reserved for NBC.**

_War...war was all over the place. No love, no peace, no surrender among everyone. It was just war. War: a state of armed conflict between different nations or states or different groups within a nation or state. Noun. That's what war meant. Each day, people are dying in war. The innocent are dying. The soldiers fighting, they are dying, and in the end they commemorate. _

_My name is Matthew Casey, and I am a soldier in the U.S Army. Each day, I experience everything. I go through pain. I experience hardship. I experience helplessness, when I have no one to turn to. But I do what I am told, I be the one I serve. And I serve for my country. I fight for my country's freedom. I enlisted for the Army right when I turned 19, and I am now 27 years old. Each year, I go on tour, and I get put in the most dangerous places, where war is often overlooked. The years I have been serving represent my loyalty for my country. I am Second Lieutenant Matthew Casey. _

_What am I missing though? _

_**Love. **_

_I have no one to come home to. My parents? They abandoned me when I was 7, and I lived with my Uncle until he died of cancer when I was 16, that very day, I was on my own. Shifting places each year I am called out to serve. When I enlisted for the army, it wasn't exactly my first choice. I wanted to be a Doctor. Then I wanted to be a firefighter. And that is when I settled on being a soldier. I applied to many colleges hoping to get into med-school, but I had no money to fund. When I wanted to be a firefighter, I passed the tests required but I declined it once I got called, because that was the time where I wanted to enlist. _

_But I was missing love. Each year I went home, I had no one at the airport waiting for me with a big sign saying, 'Welcome Home', _sure_ I had a few buddies, but no one to care for me when I was sick or down, and I didn't have someone to love. Sure, I had slept around a lot, but I was tired of it. It was time I settled down. _

"Lt. Casey, you can't just space out in the middle of battle!" One of my buddies, Severide, called out.

"Huh, what are you talking about?" I said.

"You've been pointing your gun at the target for almost ten minutes, and you have not made one move. What's going on with you?" He asked. Here we were in the training center back at base in California, doing target practice, and next was hand to hand combat.

"Nothing, I'm just kind of exhausted, you know we've been up since the crack of dawn." I pointed out, I put my weapon back into place, and just sat down at one of the chairs in the shooting range room. Severide and I were just passing time until we were getting ready to be cleared out and sent to the airport We had just gotten back from Afghanistan, and we were back at home base here in San Diego, California. We're on currently done touring for the year, and all of us will be awaiting the call for the next tour.

"Casey, it's only 9 in the morning. At this time, you're usually yelling at us to move faster." Severide said, sitting next to me and handing me a water bottle. I took a sip, and wiped the sweat off my forehead.

Kelly Severide, has has been one of my buddies since primary school, and all throughout high school we were brothers. His first option was definitely to be in the Military, and when he settled on the Military, he chose the Army. We were both sent off to different training camps in the country, we eventually ended up being in the same base and rank.

"You ready to go back home?" Severide asked. We were walking out of the shooting range, and headed back to our bunks. Passing the General, we gave a salute and continued about.

"Hell yeah, I'm ready to sleep in for countless hours." I joked, and started packing some of my clothes into my suitcase.

"Dude, General Dreade passed by and he said that our flight is at 9 am tomorrow. We're also ordered to wear our combat uniforms," Severide said, walking back into our room.

I nodded and continued packing up the rest of my personals, "When we get home, do you mind if I crash at your place, until I find one on my own?"

"Sure, I don't think Shay minds at all." He replied back.

"Thanks, man. I appreciate it." I said, giving a fist bump to him.

"That's what brothers are for." He said, I smiled, and went out to the mess hall to grab the last lunch here at base.

**The Next Morning - San Diego Airport**

"ATTENTION!" General Dreade called out. We were in the entrance of the base, and almost ready to board the bus to the airport. We stood about in position, and faced him.

"Present arms!" He called out once again, and we did what we were told. General Dreade looked around if there was anyone fooling around or not paying attention, when no one was called out, he called out a command once again.

"At ease, gentlemen."

"Alright, everyone," General continued, "Soon enough, you all will be heading home to your family and friends. And soon, you all will be called once again to duty, I just all want you to be prepared for what's coming, and lately what's been going on in the middle east, things are going to get hefty. I want you all to be safe back at home, and be ready to report here once again when you're called." He lectured. We all nodded in agreement and went ahead to board the buses. Once getting into the buses, I took a seat next to Severide, and took a nap for the two hour drive to the airport.

"Casey, wake up, we're about 5 minutes to the airport." A voice said, waking me up from my slumber and shaking me to wake up.

"I heard you, Sev. Calm down." I joked. He rolled his eyes, and I just got ready to grab my things and head to our flight gate. Arriving at the airport, Severide and I stepped out of the bus, waved a goodbye to our fellow men, and headed towards our flight gate. Just then, a girl bumped into me.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I'm just in a rush. My flight leaves in about 10 minutes, and I still have to check in!" The beautiful girl said, turning towards me.

"No worries, mam. Do you need help with your bags?" I asked politely.

"No, I'm doing just fine. Thank you though." She smiled and head on over to the check in department. The stranger was gorgeous. From what I saw, she had a bit of a Spanish accent, and judging by her skin colour, she must have been of Latina decent. When I looked down at the pathway towards the gate, she had dropped her iPhone when she had run into me. I looked around for the stranger, and she was no where near in sight.

"Sev, she dropped her phone." I said, picking it up and placing it into my flack pocket.

"Well, she might be on our flight, because I just saw her run into the gate heading back to Chicago." He said. I said a silent thank you in my head, and got ready to head in Airport security, and finally board our flight. Once getting through security and confirming everything, Sev and I head into the tunnel going towards the plane. I grabbed my suit case and started rolling it along. Looking for my seat, I saw the same girl who I bumped into, next to my seat – the window seat. I placed my suitcase in the overhead compartment. Severide, who had found his seat a couple rows behind me, I looked at him and he gave me a thumbs up with a wink, I shook my head at his foolish actions.

"Hey, Miss?" I asked, she had looked up and I saw her beautiful brown eyes open up.

"Yeah?"

"You dropped your phone when you were in a rush." I said, I grabbed her phone out of my flack pocket, and handed it to her.

"Thanks so much, soldier." She smiled and gave me somewhat of a salute.

"No problem." I smirked, and sat down in my seat right next to her. I grabbed my iPhone out of my jacket and turned it on to the Airplane settings, plugging in my earphones, the girl tapped my knee, and I took them out once again.

"So, the military, huh?" She asked, trying to make conversation.

"Yeah, the Army actually." I responded, and took my hat off of my head. I ran a hand through my hair, and wiped the sweat off my forehead. 'Why did Dreade make us wear these to the Airport, it's about 90 degrees!' I thought.

"Really?" She asked.

I nodded, and just waited for the silence to flow. The plane had lifted off, and we are finally in the sky. The flight attendee had greeted us and told us a few instructions over the PA System, apparently there's going to be snacks being sold sometime during the duration of our flight.

"Where are you from?" She questioned. I liked her, she's trying to make conversation, and she clearly isn't annoying or nosey at all.

"Chicago, how about you?"

"I was born in the Dominican Republic, but my family and I moved to Chicago when I was 8." Wow, a Spanish girl, _A mi me encanta. I said in my head. I took some Spanish classes in high school, and that's all I remember. _

"Nice." I said. She's great to talk to.

"What are you guys doing back home?" She asked once again.

"We're actually done touring for the year. I was just recently in Afghanistan."

She nodded in understanding, "What were you doing in California?" I asked her.

"I was a bridesmaid at one of my friend's wedding." She said in response.

"What are you gonna do when you get back home?"

"I actually don't know, I kind of need a job for the meantime." I said.

"Well, there's an opening at my firehouse on Truck. The spot belonged to one of our own, but he passed on call." She said sadly.

"I'm sorry to hear that. But, you're a firefighter?" I asked suddenly interested.

"No, I'm a paramedic actually. I'm sure you'd get the job easily, you sort of have some relation experience, and my chief is looking for a Captain like personnel."

"Well, I'm the Lieutenant in my rank. I'll fit right in, but thank you for the offer, I'll think about it." I smiled at her, and she nodded. Conversation halted, and I fell into a nap for the rest of the flight. What doesn't even feel like 3 hours of sleep, a hand tapped me on the shoulder.

"Hey, we're about to land." The girl said, obviously waking up from her nap as well.

"Thanks."

When we landed, I got our luggage out of the overhead compartment, and gave her bags to her. She nodded a thank you, and I smiled in response. When she had walked away from me, I stopped her for a second.

"Hey, what's your name?" I called out to her.

She her head around, and smiled, "Gabriela. My name's Gabriela."

I nodded, and when I was about to say my name in response, she says, "And you're Casey, I'll see you around." I gave a signal wondering how she found out my name but she pointed her hand at the name tag that was planted on my flack coat chest.

"Looks like you've made a new friend." Severide said coming up behind me, and grabbing me by the shoulder. I just chuckled, and headed towards the exit.

**Author's Note:**

**I was very excited to post the first chapter of, "My Soldier's Heart," I do hope you all have enjoyed it. It's going to be AU, and somehow I will incorporate some of Chicago Fire's storyline, including the characters, so don't you worry; I will try to stay as true to the show as much as possible. **

**The next part to "Our Time Now," will be updated sometime this week, so don't worry about that too! As far as this story, I really do hope you liked it. It was a completely new idea, and I have not seen anyone come up with this type just yet, so I firgured 'Why not'. Also, I may get some Military protocals wrong, but please leave a comment if I do. I was simply judging by when I was Drill Instructor for Marching Band when I was in high school, so I thought things we're just about the same. **

**Thanks for reading the first chapter, and don't forget to to drop a review! I'd like to hear what you've thought about it so far (:**


	2. Chapter 2

**28 March 2014**

I would like to announce my departure from "My Soldier's Heart" and "Our Time Now". Recently, whilst my vacation here in Australia is close to an end, I am ready to return to the work world. In this announcement, I have made some very hard decisions regarding my schooling and career choices. I have decided to continue my Nursing and Med School plans, but I have also decided to join the U.S Navy. In this, I will be admitting myself into the ROTC, and realizing I'm halfway done with Nursing School, I will be a commissioned officer on Active Duty after my training is done. I will be doing a tour in Africa for 4 weeks where I will be one of the Nurses assisting in a mission to help out the sick along with a hundred other nurses and proffessionals in the med field, before I am set to do my OCS and Boot Camp later this year.

Thank you so much, for all the wonderful reviews, comments, and everything you've guys have done for my stories. I loved them all so much. I will never forget everything. I know I left the story at a bad place, but I would like to let you know that this had made such an impact on my writing in school. Getting feedback really does help you out in the real world. To all my readers, I really appreciate each and every one of you. You guys all make me happy

By the way, I still support Dawsey, and will always be one of my OTPs, but right now, it just isn't the right timing. Chicago Fire teaches alot of lessons, including this one: "Make the right choices, because life as you know it, is in the heat of it." We truly are battling our own fires and enemies, but we should never back down, we should keep fighting to put the flame out. I love Chicago Fire, I'm glad it got picked up for a 3rd season. Too bad I'll be somewhere in the world when the show comes back on.

Thank you all so much for the continued support and love, and I hope you all will respect my decisions as a student, as a person, and most importantly as a writer with the many sacrifices and decisions I've decided to make.

My readers are my Ohana.. My family. I love you all!

X

unscriptedwriter

**Note:** This story is now up for grabs. If anyone would like to continue and pick up this story, please PM me for further details and information. Offer ends April 14th, before I delete this story off of the site, same goes with Our Time Now.


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